Young Atheist Collaborative Blog

So I’ve had an idea for a while. It’s been brewing and bubbling around in my head for a couple of weeks, and I wanted to see what you lot think about it.

There is a blog I quite enjoy called fbomb.org. It’s run by a teenage feminist called Julie, has been around for a couple of years now and has become well known in feminist circuits. The basic premise of fbomb is that it is a place for teenage feminists to come together and collaborate. Julie submits a lot to the site and writes blog posts most days, but there are also a lot of other regular contributors who may contribute once a week or just whenever they have the time. Any young feminist who wants to voice his or her opinion can send Julie a submission and she will read over it and usually post it on the site. It’s a really great, regularly updated site that those of us who read and contribute appreciate so much. It’s well loved by a lot of people and every post gets at least a couple of comments and often really interesting discussions are sparked.

So, I was thinking, why not do the same sort of thing for teenage/young atheists? I know a couple of people who have considered starting their own blog on numerous occasions but have never got around to it, or feel they don’t have the time or potential audience base to set something up. Lots of people here have great ideas to contribute but it can feel that the voice of young people gets lost sometimes and it’s hard to find somewhere to congregate where it’s just us. Starting up a blog by your self can feel a bit daunting and it can be difficult to get the internet traffic coming your way, but blogs like fbomb combat this by banding together and supporting each others’ work. I feel this sort of model could be a useful addition to the young atheist community.

What do you guys think? Is this something you would be interesting in contributing to? Add a comment or send me a message with your thoughts – let me know if you would be interested in reading this hypothetical blog, contributing occasionally or regularly, or if you would like to take a more active role in getting this project off the ground. Or just ask if you have any questions! :)

Laura

PS- Also tell me if you think this is a horrible idea. I'll try not to cry.

Replies to This Discussion

Hmmm...Atheists in Our Generation, Generation Atheism, Generation A, A-Generation, Generation of Atheism. Just playing around with that.

Aside from the name, what else would we need to do before "opening for business"? I think maybe there should be a bit of a backlog of content, so we're not rushing to make sure we have things to post and don't go quiet for weeks on end. What I would like to do is have a core of at least 4 or 5 interested people who can be quite active for at least the first few weeks, and then hopefully more contributors would submit things which would ease the pressure. Perhaps some regular segments of some sort on specific topics (like maybe something on famous atheists throughout the ages) would be good too.

I've already got an article on the go, if you'll have it. Speaking of articles perhaps the name could suggest its like an atheist newspaper sort of thing 'The Atheist Article' or something along those lines.

Nice idea. "The Atheist Article", "Atheists Articulate"...I'm sure eventually we'll find a name that fits.

Ooh, an article! Sure, I would love to set it when you've finished it. What is it about? I'll give you my email address somewhere (is there any sort of private messaging on this site? I'll have a look) so you can send it to me.

Wow, that's really good. I love your tone - sort of a mixture between humour and righteous indignation. Don't worry about spelling and grammar, I can iron that out once you've finished. I'm a bit of a grammar nut so I'll probably even enjoy it!

Once you've finished it be sure to send the completed article and it can definitely go up as one of the first posts. Oooh, I'm all excited now! I've got a whole backlog of things I've written down over the last year or so that I will have to dig out, and I think pretty soon we'll be ready to go.

Do you know any other atheists who might like to contribute something?

Personally, I like "Generation Nontheist" the most so far. It has a very good ring to it and I believe it is a good representation of the current (and upcoming!) generation. There are so many people out there who just go to church because everyone else does it -- closet Atheists are becoming more and more abundant.

As for how to go about it, I agree maybe a few things up before it's "opened" would be a good idea. It might be a good idea to consult someone with a little experience in the area.